A driver performed handbrake turns and hit speeds of up to 120mph during a police chase in Fife.
Kaine Baxter, 27, was eventually stopped in Kinross – about six miles from where the pursuit began in Kelty – after driving up someone’s driveway and into their garden.
He tried turning the vehicle in the garden but was blocked by a police car and pinned against a tree.
Baxter, of Mill Street, Alyth, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to the dangerous driving on December 3 last year.
He also admitted possessing a small amount of cannabis and failing to provide breath samples.
Chase
Prosecutor Annie Henderson told the court that at around 4.20am police on the A909 in Kelty signalled for Baxter’s car to stop but he immediately turned into Blair Drive and sped away.
He accelerated to speeds over 70mph towards the M90 but “performed a handbrake turn” and sped past the police vehicle.
He then carried out another handbrake turn at the junction with Blair Drive, mounted the pavement and turned northbound onto the M90.
Police followed and reached speeds of 120mph before the car turned off at junction 5, travelling straight over the junction and back onto the motorway slip road.
The car turned off at junction 6 for Kinross and “travelled at speeds of up to 85mph in a 30mph urban area before braking harshly,” the fiscal said.
Smashed window with baton
Baxter turned into Avenue Road and then Tallapark.
The fiscal said: “His vehicle entered the driveway of a house within that street and came to a stop.”
As he tried to reverse out, the police car closed the distance between them and there was “impact,” Ms Henderson said.
Baxter drove into a garden and one of the officers exited their vehicle and struck the passenger window with a baton.
Ms Henderson said: “The accused’s vehicle thereafter proceeded to turn in the garden on the grass and attempted to exit the driveway by driving past the marked police vehicle.”
The other officer drove forward and blocked his path, resulting in a collision with the front of the police vehicle, causing Baxter’s car to be “pinned against a tree”.
The officer smashed the driver-side window with a baton.
Sentencing
Baxter was removed and placed on the ground and handcuffed before being searched and found to have a small amount of cannabis.
He was taken to Dunfermline police station, where he refused to give breath samples, claiming he had spoken to both officers and they did not think he was under the influence.
Sheriff Susan Duff noted Baxter’s “extensive criminal record”, including similar offending and gave him 200 hours of unpaid work.
She placed him on a six-month curfew order from 7pm to 7am and disqualified him from driving for three years.
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